The voice of the BlackBerry community.
There is a free app in App World called Hockey Scores that lets you check NHL scores across the league. The app is updated frequently but it’s not clear whether it takes advantage of the Push APIs from RIM, which would push the scores to the device in near-real time.
Hockey Scores is free in App World and available for almost every device.
Viigo: Being the ultimate mobile news app, Viigo has extensive sports options. You can get live scores, examine team rosters, league standings, even subscribe to team and news RSS feeds for all your Hockey news needs. Viigo has even partnered with the Toronto Maple Leafs to deliver news and info to their fans:
“We’re excited about our partnership with Viigo which gives our fans unprecedented access to all the information they want to know about the Maple Leafs, where they want and when they want,” said Chris Hebb, Senior VP of Broadcast and Content for Maple Leaf Sport. “Viigo also makes it very easy for Leafs fans to share information about their favourite hockey team with their friends and family anywhere in the world instantaneously.”
Here’s a guide to help you get Viigo set up for your custom mobile NHL news.
Download your free copy of Viigo for Blackberry
ScoreMobile: a leader in sports Programming in Canada The Score and has built a custom app featuring:
Download your free copy of ScoreMobile BlackBerry
The Hockey News: Hockey journalism favorite The Hockey News has a Polar Mobile app featuring in-depth articles, as well as quick scores, standings, and stat updates.
Got to THN.mobi to download The Hockey News app
Ice Edge Holdings have withdrawn from the auction for the Phoenix Coyotes, leaving only Jim Balsillie and the NHL left in the auction.
PSE Sports and Entertainment, the company used by Jim Balsillie to bid for the team, have recently upped their bid potential to $242.5 million USD. The condition of the bid of course, is that the team be relocated to Hamilton in order to give Canada its 7th hockey team.
The NHL is bidding $140 million, but plans to sell the team immediately after acquiring it.
So lets take a look at the last two candidates:
Jim Balsillie – Hockey lover, esteemed business man and the largest bidder.
The NHL – Protectionist boobs who want to flip the team like an old house.
According to the Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, “the league intends to resell the franchise as promptly as possible, hopefully to an approved owner who will keep the club in Glendale.” But Glendale have already shot themselves in the foot on this one. They had the chance to come to an agreement with Ice Edge Holdings, but it wasn’t going to happen. While it’s not clear why, Ice Edge told the media “We couldn’t get there with the City of Glendale.”
So the City is too greedy and the NHL are bidding too low for a franchise they don’t even want.
Can this please be over with already?
[Via]
Things are getting pretty heated between Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and Jim Balsillie.
Recently, Balsillie was rejected as a potential owner of the Phoenix Coyotes by the league’s governors because he was deemed to be lacking “good character and integrity.” Jim responded by suggesting in a document filed to the bankruptcy court that “the NHL has long tolerated indicted and even convicted criminals among its ranks.”
The Melnyk and Balsillie trouble started when Balsillie singled out Melnyk, who was fined $1-million for alleged violations of the Canadian Securities Act and ordered to step down as director of his company, Biovail, for one year. Sound familiar?
Both Mr. Melnyk and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly fired back at Mr. Balsillie. “I have watched with some dismay Jim Balsillie’s fall from being a deserving business icon to what now appears to be a desperate man willing to say anything or do anything to buy an NHL franchise,” Mr. Melnyk said in a release.
“In a recent legal filing, he dragged me into his hurricane of legal filings and panicked pleas and cited me as someone who is lacking the personal integrity to own the Ottawa Senators hockey franchise. I’ve tried to reach Jim through his office to find out why he would say something like this about me — we barely know each other– but I’ve received no response.”
“I will say in response publicly that his willingness to drag down anyone he can get his hands on along with him is discouraging and saddens me. Jim and I both found great success in our Canadian businesses. And that is where the comparisons stop.”
Balsillie also took aim at Bruce McNall, owner of the LA Kings, who was sentenced to almost six years in prison for defrauding several banks of more than US$236-million.
While it may be a good strategy to point out the inconsistencies in what the NHL is saying, it’s my personal opinion that Balsillie should have simply focused on the good he does, rather than the bad things others have done. Balsillie has a plethora of ventures that are indicative of a businessman with character and who invests in the country and institutions that brought him success. Here are just a few from his Wiki:
Sure, Balsillie has made some aggressive business moves and does leverage the media to get what he wants, but none of this suggests a man who lacks character.
[Via]
Aislin Editorial Cartoon in the Gazette.
Balsillie hasn’t been having much success these days in the courtroom but the man has perseverance and money, so don’t underestimate his ability to get whatever he wants.
Next week, there will be a court hearing as to the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes and whether or not they’ll be moving to Hamilton to become Canada’s seventh hockey team.
Most recently, team owner Jerry Moyes and Jim Balsillie have had their lawyers request that the courts turn over documents relating to the sale of the team, as well as they have asked for consent in the examination of commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly. This isn’t going to make Bettman very happy, which is why the above editorial cartoon sums things up nicely.
If the request goes through, Bettman is going to have a lot of tough questions to answer. The NHL has rejected Balsillie as a potential owner but they’ve yet to provide an adequate explanation as to why. The examination will also try and expose the reasoning behind the NHL’s argument that it isn’t possible to move the Coyotes in time for the start of the 2009-2010 season coming in October.
So it’s still anyone’s game at this point. Join the Make it Seven campaign today.
[Via]
RIM has launched a new campaign on their WinWithBlackBerry site. The contest offers the chance to instantly win prizes such as one of 10 BlackBerry devices, accessories and discounts.
It seems Jim Balsillie had a hand in this contest because you can also win a ton of hockey prizes. You can win hockey jerseys, game tickets and an all expenses paid trip for 4 to a “North American Hockey League finals game” and $2,000 spending cash.
The contest works on points, and the more you participate in the contest, the more points you get.
Check out WinWithBlackBerry for registration and more contest details.
[Hat tip]
[ED NOTE: If you've registered at makeitseven.ca, you have already seen the message from Jim Balsillie. I thought I'd repost the letter for those who haven't seen it and to encourage more registrations.]
A message from Jim Balsillie:
Yesterday, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes filed documents in court confirming his receipt of our offer to purchase the team for US$212.5 million, that the offer expires June 30, 2009 and that it is conditional upon moving the team to southern Ontario. We learned that the court has moved up its date to hear arguments on the question of relocation to June 9th and Judge Baum has said he will rule on this issue shortly after. If he rules the team can be relocated, the Judge has also indicated he will move the date of the auction we have asked for up to June 22nd.
We have maintained from the beginning that we need to be in control of the team by then to know if we can move it this year, or if we have to keep it in Glendale for another year and then move it to its new home, Copps Coliseum, where we have secured the rights to a long-term lease.
We are moving ahead. In the days ahead, I will have more exciting details to share with you about bringing this team to Canada.
In the meantime, we need our voices to be heard. Currently, we have over 130,000 people signed up www.makeitseven.ca and we need to reach out to hockey lovers throughout Canada and the world to expand our movement. If each of you were able to get one friend to sign up, we could mobilize over a quarter of a million people in an online movement.
Jim Balsillie spoke with the editorial board at the Toronto Star yesterday and he expressed some frustration regarding the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. He talked about this love for the game and his passion for Canada. A real patriot, Jim said he had to take a “side door” approach to try and secure the Coyotes and give Canada a 7th hockey team.
I recorded the conversation with my BlackBerry 8900 using MyCaption so you could read the transcripts. There is also an audio clip for you to listen to
Jim Balsillie Toronto Star Audio
Click through to read the transcribed conversation using MyCaption
Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of RIM is making an aggressive move to get a 32-year lease for Copps Coliseum, buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, but the city of Arizona is trying to block his slapshot.
The city of Glendale, Ariz., laid out its legal objections to the proposed sale of the Coyotes, saying a bankruptcy court judge shouldn’t consider the sale of the team “based on the false premise that (the winning bidders) are legally capable of relocating the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.”
The Glendale believes that their bankruptcy doesn’t allow the Coyotes to break their “Non-Relocation Covenant” that prohibits them from relocating, and requires the team to play all of its home games at the arena for the full term of the 30-year lease.
“The city believes that it has the right under applicable law to prohibit any relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes,” say the city’s documents signed by lawyer Cathy Reece. “The city believes and therefore asserts that its right to enforce the Non-Relocation Covenant under applicable law shall survive these Chapter 11 cases, including any sale of the (team).”
Obviously Arizona is not keen on the idea of losing their hockey team which generates revenue for the city. Even though the team is bankrupt, if they relocate, the city loses any potential of saving the hockey team as a revenue stream.
Although Arizona is upset about the deal, Hamilton couldn’t be happier about a team relocation. The city is expecting a surge in local spending as well as visitors from the surrounding cities for big games and events. Balsillie signed a deal which was approved unanimously by the council, promising Balsillie a long-term lease if he secures the Phoenix Coyotes. The deal includes a $5 million injection of cash from Balsillie to help upgrade the 17,000-seat arena by 2010.
[Via]
I just watched Jim Balsillie speak at WES 2009 and it’s always great to hear the man speak. He’s a brilliant public speaker and the company is safe in his hands.
If you’re on the consumer side of things, the keynotes here at WES may not be your thing but you’ll surely love to hear that Jim Dog is finally getting into the hockey space. The man who helped bring us the best smartphone on Earth has made his intentions known that a $212.5 million (US) offer was on the table to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. One condition of the purchase was that Balsillie would relocate the franchise to an unspecified region in Southern Ontario.
The NHL is obviously trying to put the kibosh on the move but Canadians are going to rally behind him surely. Not only is BlackBerry a huge source of patriotism for Canadians, but sorry Americans, we just love hockey more than you. You have baseball, basketball and football; we have hockey.
Continue to read about Jim Dog buying the Coyotes
The voice of the BlackBerry community.
